Do you know a Notary Public?

Well, now you do. Today I notarized my first official document. Thats right kids, I'm a NOTARY PUBLIC. I feel so...... special, grown up, professional, and important. Well, at least stabilized and remotely indispensible at work, which is a good feeling. Folks at the office asked me to become a Notary a few months ago - given the high volume of documents requiring notarization. We have two notaries in the office, but between vacation time, what nots, and sundry items that take us and our co-workers away from the office, there should always be at least one available. So, here I am! Ready to.... notarize!
I studied for a total of 4 hours for the state exam and passed. Weird rules include me not being able to charge more than $2 for my services and not being able to work "in cahoots" with an attorney or to present myself as knowledgeable about wills. :) That said, I want my $2!

New kitchen table

We got a new kitchen table for Christmas (seats 6) and fits perfectly in our pad! Before we were using a card table and/or a table for two. Happy day. Wanna come over for dinner?

Christmas Letter 2010

Dear Family and Friends,
Merry Christmas! We hope your 2010 was fabulous. We are grateful for your love and friendships and are so blessed to have you in our lives. Here’s an update of sorts on us:
Peter is in his 2nd year of oral and maxillofacial surgery internship and is very happy. He’s at St. Luke’s Hospital in Manhattan – on the upper West side by Central Park, Columbia University and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Last year he was at the Brooklyn Hospital Center, which was horrendous, but St. Luke’s is much better. In Peter’s words, “last year was hell and now I’m in heaven.” Truly, everything is relative. The hours are reasonable, he often gets a lunch break and finishes before 6pm.
We live directly across the street from the hospital, so he can take call from home and just walk across the street for calls at 3am to repair facial lacerations, drain abscesses, wire a fractured jaw, or put a dislocated mandible back in place. Some large lacerations can take an hour or more to suture which gives him time to preach the gospel of cooperation with police officers, avoiding violence and retaliation, etc.... He says that most sermons are received either well or quietly. Unfortunately, such emergency room repentance is often short-lived. Clinic work during the day includes extraction of teeth, placing implants, working up cases for corrective jaw surgery, treating TMJ pain, infections, tumors, and cancer of the head and neck.
Peter will have completed two OMFS internships (similar to 1st year residency experience) this June 30, and hopes to be accepted into a four-year residency program beginning July 1. He had five interviews recently – four in NYC and one in Morgantown, WV. We find out early February about acceptance, so we are keeping our fingers crossed, saying our prayers, and trying to be nice as opposed to naughty until then.
Allison works full-time in the financial industry as an Administrative Assistant. Its not her first choice (or second, third or fourth), but it beats unemployment, and its enabled us to pay off some major debt from our first six months in NYC. We are grateful to the Lord for this tremendous blessing. With a masters degree in History, she feels somewhat overqualified for said position, but sucks it up daily to pay for our exhorbitant NYC rent. She faxes, files, scans, shreds, copies, and emails mountains of documents related to the hedge funds’ investments for 9-10 hours a day. Variety on this routine includes data entry (around 900 monthly account statements), chasing down performance estimates, and calling to secure tax documents that are late for each quarter. Her office is situated on the 35th floor of One Penn Plaza in midtown Manhattan – across the street from Madison Square Garden, and diagonal from Macy’s on 34th Street and the post office on 33rd – the largest one in the world and its open 24 hours a day! She was a temporary employee for six months, but was hired on full-time September 1st. She played soccer a few times on the office co-ed team to help meet the gender ratios this past fall. Ridiclous to say the least. First time playing soccer. Ever. And it was obvious.
Peter just got called to be the Family History Coordinator in our ward and Allison serves as the Education Counselor in the Relief Society. Allison has recently joined a humanitarian organization to aid Ethopian children and families - Hope Arising: http://hopearising.org/, and finds fulfillment in being involved as the NYC Director. She aims to organize a fundraiser sometime this coming Spring.
We enjoy being so close to the Manhattan temple (its about 50 blocks south) and all of the exciting things in NYC life. We often go rollerblading or bike riding together when the weather is nice, and hope to get to all of the museums before our undetermined stint on the north-east coast comes to an end. And because we don’t yet have children, we regularly get plenty of sleep and exercise – two of our favorite past times! And yours I’m sure, so we hope that last comment didn’t sting too much.
We love the Savior, His gospel, and His church. We rejoice in His birth and this season to celebrate that glorious event.
Merry Christmas! Much love, Peter & Allison

A trip to IKEA

Getting around can be quite a time consuming chore in NYC, especially if you're schlepping stuff. Take a trip to IKEA, for example. Its located on the mid-western tip of Brooklyn in an area called Red Hook. There are no subway stops nearby, so without a car, you must either take the subway to Brooklyn and then hop on a bus. Or, you can take the subway to the southern tip of Manhattan and catch a ferry ride to Red Hook. IKEA's brokered a deal with a boat company where they provide "free" transportation to and from IKEA as long as you spend $5 when you're there. The ferry costs $5, but its deducted from your total purchase at check-out upon presentation of your ferry receipt. Not a bad gig, eh? Its a nice 15 minute boat ride, but the total trip seems to take forever!

I went there in July to acquire a few things for our new apartment and had to take a cab home because my stuff was too cumbersome to handle by myself up and down the stairs on the subway. $45 cab. Ouch. One hour in traffic....one way. The ferry only goes every 40 minutes, so you have to try and time your subway travel appropriately. Yeah, right. In July I arrived 10 minutes after a ferry departure so had to wait 30 minutes. If you're killing time the view's not bad, as the Brooklyn Bridge spans the East River in the backdrop.

Dreading another cumbersome trip alone, I told Peter he was coming with me to schlepp the stuff last Saturday. I had a few things to return from July. We met up at 3:00pm and took the subway to downtown on the east side of the financial district. We walked a few blocks and arrived at Slip B at 3:46pm to learn that the 3:40pm ferry had just departed. We decided to grab an early dinner at Subway since the next departure was at 4:20pm. It was very cold so we ran back and forth to warm up! We caught the 4:20 and arrived at IKEA at 4:38pm. We weren't doing any shopping this trip, just returning stuff. Peter bought 15 chocolate hazelnut bars at $1 each while I waited in line. They told me my receipt was too old for returns, so I only got store credit. Grrr...

We froze while waiting outside, but caught the 5:20 return ferry. We arrived home (upper W side of Manhattan by Central Park) around 6:30pm. Imagine if we had squeezed in any time for shopping!?

I shouldn't complain. Despite the time commitment, it was a fun trip and we got two boat rides! Peter was a good schlepper and his regular witty self, making my trip very enjoyable.

Goodbye Omaha!

I. love. Omaha. Its the place where I met my dreamboat husband 10 years ago. Its the place where we were newlyweds and lived for four years of dental school at Creighton (2005-2009). In Omaha, I got my master's degree in Medieval and Renaissance History and taught Italian for two years - both at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Its where my in-laws became my BFF's. We spend numerous weekends at their cozy three bedroom home so that Peter could clerk for hours on a Saturday night and I'd still be entertained. Plus, it was close to church, so we'd be able to get there quickly on a snowy Sunday morning. Ah, Omaha. Vivid memories include: living at Drake Court same time as Eric & Cass & Patalie, hanging out with Barb & Levi Murray, attending Elmwood Ward, roller blading the trails with Peter, going to Creighton gym, going to UNO gym, thesis research & writing, planning activities with the Faith in God girls, teaching Relief Society, throwing amazing Halloween parties with Mary, singing with Melanie Bartlett & Lauri Cunningham, lots of board games, Kristy White's baptism and friendship, Natalie still on her mission when she met Patrick (getting a tour at trail center from Sister Harwood), making a gingerbread creation with Mary, going to movies with Steven, etc, etc...

Recently, my father-in-law found a job in Scottsdale, AZ, requiring he and Mary to move. Their home is for sale in Omaha, and so a few of us had one last shin-dig reunion there last weekend. Eric, Andrea, Amy and I flew out for four days. No grandkids except baby Autum, and no spouses. An eclectic but fabulous group. We went to the temple, had a 2nd Thanksgiving dinner, saw a movie or three (Harry Potter, Social Network, the Namesake), played games (I let Eric beat me twice at the Train Game), and generally relaxed and reminisced. We caught up with old friends at church and went shopping (I may have shopped more than the others).

Once Mary & Steven move to AZ, its unlikely that we'll make it back to Omaha much. We all said a heartfelt goodbye to this wonderful place of dear memories and amazing people! Goodbye Omaha! How I love thee and all that you represent.

Macy's and Mayhem

The night before the Macy's TG Day parade, the big balloons are inflated in a rectangle surrounding the Museum of Natural History. This event has become an attraction in its own right, with hordes of people lining up to see the inflation process. Police direct traffic and block off designated areas. Its only 30 blocks south of our house, so Peter and I decided to brave the crowds. Can you say MAYHEM!? Oh well, we're learning that everything fabulous in NYC must necessarily involve the masses. And it was pretty cool to see. The next morning, I biked down to the parade starting point - 81st and Central Park West - and enjoyed viewing the likes of Kayne West (loser) atop a float, Jessica Simpson (why is she famous again?) and Joan Rivers on her horses (don't know what her costume is all about). It was also interesting to see all of the people walking underneath those big balloons, keeping them moving and grounded. Thats how they move and don't float away - people literally walk underneath them with ropes attached to the balloon. Well, Hmph! :) I guess the SMURFS are back...? From 20 years ago? Don't know the story there, but it brings back memories of my sister Meredith's many nicknames. When she was in 5th grade, we called her Merf, hence the slogan when she ran for political office: "Be Smurfy, vote for Merfy!"

Anyway, by far the smartest person at the parade was a girl with a stool (pictured), giving herself at least 18 inches of height on the rest of us. Next year I'll be more prepared.

Smile, Peter!

So, last year I swore I'd not transport food on Thanksgiving in NYC. It was a major hassle - hauling the crockpot and several dishes stacked in my little red cart up and down the subway stairs... well, this year we only had to haul four dishes ten blocks. But we had a hot item (green bean casserole), a cold item (chocolate mousse pie) and two loosey-goosey items (crudite tray and deviled eggs). I came up with an ingenious idea for our 10-block trek: I put two rulers in the cart stackings above the casserole so that they'd hold up and separate the pie, then put in towels and a small pillow to separate the two trays on top! It worked for a little while, but the streets are quite jagged and bumpy, at times sending chocolate mousse over the edge.

Oh, the stress. We should have taken a cab. Peter was NOT happy about the situation. He would have preferred that we eat out at a restaurant or ordered in. And why not? Our kitchen is too obnoxiously small to cook a decent meal. Next year...

Anyway, we had a lovely dinner with the RS President in our ward Catherine Edwards (I'm her first counselor) and her parents, who were in town from SLC. They served a mission in Romania recently and her father actually grew up in Flushing, NY, so was baptized in Manhattan and had some great stories. Catherine's friend and old roommate was also there, Dawn, who prepared a mean pork roast, cornbread and spinach salad. We didn't have turkey, pumpkin pie, rolls or gravy, but the food was delicious! What a feast. Peter eventually smiled. :)

A life well lived

Last Tuesday I got a call that my first cousin Tracie Holland had passed away. At age 39, the doctors said her "insides" were equivalent to a 78 year-old. She suffered from tuber schlerosis, epilepsy, and kidney failure. She'd been living with only 1/3 of a kidney for years, and when it failed last week, it triggered an epileptic seizure. Poor thing, she'd been bleeding profusely a week before that, and her body was just done. She died in her mothers' arms after a few minutes of a very weak pulse and her mother telling her to "go"... home to her beloved grandparents and to her fiance' Daniel, who'd died in a fatal car accident nearly a decade ago.

Unable to work the past five years due to her seizures, she chose to do family history all day long. She treated her siblings to movies, babysat their children, and gave friendship and kindness to all. She was a pure soul, a good example of priorities and enduring to the end.

On Sunday, my older sister Teri and I were asked to attend and assist with the dressing before the funeral on Monday. We both had never done this and had much trepidation. Boy, were we wrong. It was a beautiful, spiritual experience. The room was filled with peace and hope - for the Resurrection and for a reunion with Tracie. There was such respect towards her body, towards the human body as we all realized what a gift that is. I was blessed to attend.

The whole experience/ trip was valuable - so much reflection about life's priorities, loved ones, and the preciousness of every single day. I'm grateful to be alive. To be healthy. And to have the example of great ones who have gone before.

Returning to CO is always special because everywhere we go, people recognize us, know our parents, and our grandparents. Its such a warm, connected feeling. I grew up in AZ, disconnected from extended family, so to come here and feel linked to generations is significant.

My parents grew up here, the San Luis Valley in southern, central CO; a mere four hours north of Albuquerque and 4 hours south of Denver. Sanford - population 817 - is the same today as it was back then. Farming communities, cowboy hats, friendly waves and smiles. This NYC girl couldn't get over how friendly and spacious everything was (even though I've returned there and visited almost every year of my life)!

I flew to Denver, then drove down with my sister Teri's family. We spent 48 hours in the valley, then headed back last Monday night. I'm so glad I was ble to go! Death is tragic, but it prods spiritual exploration and growth, makes us grateful for life, and brings families together. Thank you Heavenly Father, for each day, for the Resurrection and for eternal families. Thank you Tracie, for a life well lived. You are a stellar example to us all.

My Mamacita!

My Mom visited two weeks ago, and we had a marvelous time. Here are some pics from our adventures visiting the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Brooklyn Bridge, the theatre, Times Square, and the amazing view from my office. Peter and I really enjoyed her stay with us. What a treat! XOXO mi mamacita.

When Kathy was in town...

Here are pics from my friend Kathy's visit. Yes, embarassingly, in this last picture we are crouched underneath the Wall Street Bull. It was Kathy's idea...clearly. We were able to visit the Skyscraper Museum and Kat was fascinated with the landfill that makes up 13% of Manhattan. There was an exhibit to show the "growth" of the city as new landfill stretched its borders into the sea. For example, did you know that the dirt from building the Twin Towers in the early 1970's was used to create Battery Park City on the lower W side? Very cool. Also, landfill filled the gap between Brooklyn and Coney Island (not an island anymore), and the tip of Manhattan is also landfill - surrounding the Castle Clinton/Garden outpost. Cool stuff. We hit the M&M store and took pics from my office - 35th floor with an amazing view of the statue. Other friends out there - come visit and I promise I won't make you visit the back of the bull. :)

Last weekend, I...

1. Went to the US OPEN and saw Nadal beat Verdasco. Thursday night. It was freezing. We scalped our tickets from a coupla dudes outside the stadium. Talked 'em down to $100 a ticket. Cash. Kathy sported me. She's a fab friend. Very keen on tennis. I was unworthy of such a gift because I didn't even know who Nadal was before Kathy came to town, but I enjoyed every minute. Especially the antics of Pat Cash in an expedition doubles match after the main event.

2. Morphed into NYC tour guide extraordinaire on Saturday afternoon. We explored Wall Street, the Museum of Finance, Battery Park & the Skyscraper Museum, Ground Zero (where a debate was raging over the Mosque), and Times Square.

3. Saw the show the "Fantastiks" on Saturday night for $20! We arrived late at TKTS for discount tickets and fortunately, there was a special "20 for 20" for the Fantastiks. I'd heard it was good from cousin Clin and he was right. Cute show. Oldie but goodie. Its been playing for 42 years!!! Off Broadway show with lots of characters and good songs.

4. Took the Chinatown bus to Philadelphia on Sunday morning. Two hours, door to door. $10 each way = $20 for the whole trip. Except I took a cab to Chinatown from 72nd because the subways were extremely slow and I wouldn't have made it otherwise. Cab ride = $22. Thus, entire trip = $42. Still not bad.

5. Went on a walking tour of Philadelphia with my sister Meredith, husband Jake, and baby Quinn. Fun times. Learned that Robert Morris practically funded the Revolutionary soldiers during the war, only to go bankrupt later, lose at speculating, and spend a few years in jail. Poor guy. Also learned that the "Columbia" part of D.C. = broad, general (feminized) version of Christopher Columbus! Jeepers, you learn something new every day. The baby was very fun and I enjoyed gooshing on him and trying to get him to love me. Great smile. Pictures coming soon. We also explored the Constitution Center and saw the preparations for Tony Blair's reception/ award ceremony to receive the annual Liberty Bell honor. ? Something like that.

This was one of the best weekends in a long time. I missed the Pete, of course, but was happy to play with friends and family! Most of the time, I go on bike rides and clean my house. Thats pretty much what this Saturday is looking like.

When your co-workers drive you CRAZY

So, this chick at work bugs me. A LOT. She's always bossing me around, unnecessarily. On stuff I already know how to do. She's totally unaware of how condescending she comes across.
The insanity is that she's NOT the boss of me; we're technically equal on the hierarchy. Plus, she doesn't quite have her bachelor's degree. Get my drift? So, the challenge is picking my battles, and I'm learning that she's simply OCD, anal and can't let little things go.
For example, I said that I would drop off a UPS package one evening, but then forgot. It didn't have to go out that day per se, but she sent me a scathing little reminder of how we should be careful to do what we say we are going to do. Okay... duh. My bad. Today I made a data entry error and this is what she emailed me:
"Allison, I had to go back in the spreadsheet to fix the below error. Please be careful and double check statements you enter for typing errors. You entered 20,044 instead of 20,004,095. We all make mistakes and it’s best to catch them/fix them early before uploading."
True. Everything she said is true. But we enter so much data, that one entry is not a big deal. I've often fixed her mistakes without saying anything. Because there are systems in place to catch them, and because I don't want to draw attention to her mistakes. So, there is the difference between us. Sigh... Last Sunday I spoke on the 10th Commandment, "Thou Shalt Not Covet," so technically I shouldn't be coveting other peoples' co-workers. Hmmm... I will conquer.

Do you have co-workers that make you crazy? Now or in the past? What did they do? Did you resolve anything? Strategies for dealing with it? Clearly, the 'ol let it roll off yer back, be a duck thing is not working for me. Today at least. Maybe it will tomorrow. Oh, and we've already had a mediated conversation if you can believe that! It did not go well. She freaked out. But I was just asking her to lay off the demoralizing kindergarten approach to our job... didn't register... watcha gonna do?

A day at the beach!

The funniest part of this story is that Sarah went to the beach Friday afternoon, the day before our beach day - Saturday. You will understand why this is so amusing very shortly.

So, Peter was on call last weekend, which means he had to be available at a moment's notice to respond to emergencies of a maxillo-facial-dental nature. The hospital is across the street, which is nice, but he still can't plan anything that would take him away from the general proximity of our neighborhood for long. Thus said, I planned a beach day with my friend Sarah for Saturday. I slept over Friday night, and we stayed up talking until 2am, of course. We woke up at 10am and continued our conversations from the prior evening, lazily dawdling the morning away. Frittered is more like it. By noon we were breakfasting on chocolate cake and thought about packing up for the beach. We gardened, hammocked, frittered some more, and then realized that we'd probably miss the 1:50pm train departure to Long Beach, so we planned on the 2:50pm. Its an hour long train ride including a connection at Jamaica Station. So, we'd be there by 4pm. No biggie. At Jamaica, we jumped off, then connected to.... yeah, who knows. We got on the WRONG train, which we discovered to our horror about an hour into the deviation. Hmmm... we were instructed to get off, go back to Lynbrook and then get on the next Long Beach Train. There was a 40-minute wait for the next train to Long Beach. Oh well, good thing I spotted an Entemann's Bakery Outlet store just minutes from the station so that we could pass the time well. We did partake. And brought some home for the kids. I mean Peter. I mean... The station was surprisingly chilly, so we layed down in the last slivers of sunshine alongside the cement while our doughnuts settled. Aaaah. Eventually we got to the beach at 6pm. They don't charge you $12 after 6, so our timing was PERFECT! What a fun day! We were very relaxed and rejuvenated. I'm going back, but next time I'm in charge of getting us there. :)

The Jenns... My Good Ol' Friends

Last weekend I had a couple of girlfriends visit me. Well, technically they were visiting NYC and each other, and I horned in on their plans. Jenny Reeder and Jennifer Brinkerhoff were roommates back in AZ about 10 years ago. We all used to hang out. What inspiring and beautiful women! They are both working on their PhD's. JB teaches Institute in Tempe, AZ (she taught Seminary in the East Valley for nearly 10 years and her students rave about her). She's currently on her way to Ethopia for the third time this year! She's helping to bring a water pipeline to a village there so that the women don't have to walk 8 miles round trip daily to carry 40+ pounds of dirty water on their backs. She's also doing research for her dissertation on women and rituals. Jenny got a master's degree from NYU a few years back and currently lives in DC, where she is in a PhD program. Her area of study is women's history in the LDS church. Both of these gals are sassy, educated, funny, witty, and spiritual.

We ate at the much anticipated, highly awaited hamburger and custard place - The Shake Shack (make sure you request pickles on your hamburger to enhance the overall burger experience. JB got pickles and I did not; she raved and raved about her burger and I can't say that I did. Just saying is all). There's a Shake Shack in Madison Square Park and also at 77th/ Amsterdam. Yummy! The Afghan food restaurant was better, actually, and that one is located on 51st/ 9th Avenue; I can't wait to take Peter there.

On Friday night, I was having eye problems (I randomly tore my cornea and had to rest it as it was flaming red). So, I encouraged them to see Memphis on Broadway without me. The next day they got pedicures, toured China Town, and we met up at the Manhattan temple for a session. We saw Glenn Beck come out just after us... which was... interesting. I'm not necessarily a fan, and haven't formed a conclusive opinion about that.

Later that night we saw "In The Heights" and I was blown away. WOW! What a fun show. I loved it, even slightly more than Memphis. Living here in NYC, I got the quirks, the neighborhoods, the references (some in Spanish), etc. I highly recommend this one.

On Sunday evening we went to my friend Sarah's for a get together. Sarah used to live in Kenya (taught two years at a university there), so I wanted her to meet JB and to swap notes. It was a successful connection. Got home at 1am... what an excellent weekend!